FolkFaro Part 2

 Below - the cleanup committee! We had lots of fun punishments for lost items - Mike was really creative! I will never think of "Just Give Me a Reason" the same way since Jarom and Dawson had to sing it as a duet to their lost costume pieces.

 Maggie and Courtney getting cosy at Karaoke night! :-) And Gary and I getting cosy with Richard from Puerto Rico! :-)

One day we got to do a full American show on the main Faro stage at the Marina. What a crowd! The huge audience (2,000+ in audience!) was amazing. They seemed to really like us - and we loved them!

 Pre-show and dinner before the big Marina show

The thrill of a big night, a big crowd, and our full show! They told us that there were over 2,000 people in the audience!

 We dressed up Vitor and Joana in our Native Dress as they were our narrators

 Joe and Maggie playing... some sort of game? :-) Tall to Short, maybe?

Day six at FolkFaro started with an outdoor performance for children at the Faro library. Back at the dorms the dancers worked on their makeup and hair skills. Then after "quiet time" Gary led a dance workshop with help from our team. A poolside performance at 10:00 pm was followed by a USA team "white night" where on the spot performances were organized, and our Portuguese guides (and members of a Portuguese team) taught us a dance.

 What do we do on our downtime? Why, get silly, of course! The kids came up with this one, and while we're not great fans of crossdressing, they really enjoyed it. First the boys did the girls' makeup, then the girls gussied up the boys. Audra even straight-ironed Matt's fro!

 Just a little scary how Trent looked like a girl once we added Maggie's hairpiece to him! And even Vitor got in on the act, below.

 The USA workshop, above (we taught Virginia Reel, clogging and the Cotton Eyed Joe line dance) and the pool party show we did at the Aquashow hotel.

 Every night had a theme party back at the school/dorms. That night it was white night... but since we were the only dancers back from the evenings' performances, we made our own party!

 Trent was super cute with Maggie

 Beach Day! Faro is the capital of the Algarve, the southern region of Portugal famous for its beaches. Tons of British go there on vacation, which is why so many locals speak English! We got to hit the beach for a few hours one day -heavenly!

 Hannah ended up with a wonderful seashell collection!

 Kallie, Hossam from Egypt, Katherine, Crozier, Maggie, Jarom, Cody, Dawson, Abby, Brenna, Jenna, Annabelle

So lucky for us - the local church building was walking distance from our dorms! We got to go to church on Sunday and do a fireside one Saturday (and have a sardine bbq with the local members!) very fun.

But we were getting tired. We started enforcing nap times, because the dancing was suffering due to our kids' fatigue. They resisted at first, but by the end of the tour were begging us to announce a siesta!

Final Day in Faro: Church was in the morning at a nearby Portuguese branch. Then an ecumenical celebration with all the teams was held in the afternoon at Faro's historic Catholic Church. A short parade in downtown Faro (at 10:00 pm!) was followed by final performances by all the teams before a crowd thought to be 7000 strong. Hugs and tears were shared backstage afterward. Finally, a party was held with all the teams back at the dorms. It still wasn't over at 4:00 am!

 Group pictures!

 Waiting to line up for the final parade and marina performance in Faro - everyone loved Mostapha! Look at the tile on that lovely street - it was like that all along the parade route! Gorgeous!

 One last performance

Everyone was paired up for the closing candle ceremony

 Soooo many tears! Since almost everyone at this festival spoke English, we really bonded with many of them. Although we still had one festival to go, everyone was so sad that Folkfaro was over!

 Mairin, Vaishali the Indian team director, Maggie, Mostapha, and Nadia the Egyptian director

We stayed up almost all night, saying goodbye, trading souvenirs, signing t-shirts, chatting in the halls. (No curfew on the last night!) What wonderful people we met - friends forever!

 Last pictures!

Mostapha, above, from whom Gary purchased the most beautiful Egyptian drum, and dear Vaishali, below. Hopefully Gary will be able to go over to India to teach a workshop for her!

And.... one of my favorite moments from the whole tour. As our bus was pulling away to take us north to our next festival, our dear guides Vitor, Fabio, Rafaela, Joana, and Cesar laid down in the street in front of our bus so we wouldn't be able to leave. Aw. We love you too, guys! :') Seriously, we really do. I ADORE Joana - she is a special soul. A beautiful soul. I want to be her big sister! She's the best!

FolkFaro 2013

When we arrived at Faro we were greeted by our guides, Joana, Fabio (and Vitor, who wasn't actually assigned to us but who loved our team and went everywhere we went so we adopted him. Plus he fell in love with Courtney so he was kind of attached to us all). They took us to our rooms - three big school rooms in the local high school, from which all the desks had been removed, to be replaced by bunk beds. No closets, no attached bathrooms, no a/c, but what an adventure! The showers were out around the corner and across the courtyard, and the kids had to learn how to do their own laundry by hand in the provided washstands. I loved it! So good for them!

So much happens at a folk dance festival - every day has two or three major adventures at least. I will try to record the most important events, though all of it was worth remembering! I just don't have time to do it all justice!

Every day usually featured meals in the school cafeteria (lots of rice, pork, chicken, salad with no dressing, and the inevitable but decent yellow soup) and  rehearsals in the lobby of the school for our various performances. One of these turned into an impromptu limbo contest. I think Maggie won, because of her scary ability to walk in a back bend. And she's already shorter than everyone!

Opening performance in our only indoor theater; it was beautiful! But since the weather held up the entire festival, all the outdoor performances were lovely too!

There's always an "hurry up and wait" element at a festival. Lots of hurrying, lots of waiting for things to start. Good thing we know how to entertain ourselves! Like Joe braiding Courtney, Hannah and Kallie's hair together! Or random party games like the group sit, below.

No wasted moments - during down time, we taught the Egyptians "Cotton Eyed Joe"

Opening ceremonies at the theater and park by the marina. Katherine and Jarom were our team representatives that day - we take turns selecting flag holders for shows, etc. They made a particularly attractive couple, and yes they were a "TR" (tour romance) during the entire tour!

They had to dig a hole to plant a rosebush of peace, and release a dove on count. Pretty cool, actually.

Walking through the city to get to the Mayor's reception

Zac, Josh, Carter, Matt, Savannah, Abby

Lots of Baroque architecture and embellishment in the cathedrals, and yes, tile!

The participating teams were us, USA, Portugal, Egypt, India, Puerto Rico, and the Canary Islands (for a day). India and Puerto Rico were especially amazing, but we made friends with all the teams! We were lucky that Egypt got to come; they are currently experiencing civil war and had to drive through gunfire to get to the airport to leave the country!

Every festival has its standout beauty. This year it was Shaza from Egypt

Us with Joana and Vitor

We thought this little Portuguese girl looked a lot like our Sophie, so we took a picture.

My favorite thing about festivals - the new friends! the cultural sharing! The dancing all day and night with people from all over the world! This is us teaching the Indians and Portuguese the Virginia reel. Above, Mostapha and the Puerto Ricans are jamming!

Day two performing at Folkfaro at two venues: Alportel and Estoi. Great outdoor venues. Alportel was at a community center with a pool we were able to cool off in before the 10:30 pm performance. Estoi was in the town square surrounded by historic buildings, including a church. That performance began about half an hour after midnight! What's amazing is that these little towns/villages turns out these huge, enthusiastic audiences! Every show we did all through the tour was packed! So much fun to be appreciated!

This is how I usually see shows (above) and this is usually Maggie when we get home from shows! (Below. Give her some credit, it was 3 AM and she was only 12 at the time!)

Day three at Folkfaro included three different venues, including a reception with the Mayor, a retirement home performance, and an evening show at the Faro Bikers Club. They served dinner to the team before the performance and presented everyone with a cool club t-shirt afterward! Yes we felt cool.

 

 Rest home show

Photo with Richard from Puerto Rico. So nice! He and I stayed up late talking one night out in the hallway while I was enforcing curfew. :-)

Aquashow! It's a water park with rides like rollercoasters and this round thingy, which made me totally sick. Wave pools, water slides, rampaging Egyptians... great day off! Faro is located in a region of Portugal called the Algarve, which is famous for its beaches and resorts. Lots of British citizens come here, which is why so many people speak English! We found this out after noticing tons of billboards in English along the freeways - we were confused for a minute there! (Almost everyone at this festival spoke English - the Portuguese are used to tourists, the Egyptians came from the American University of Cairo, most educated Indians speak perfect English, and Puerto Ricans are part of the USA)

This was when I realized that many of our kids were living off of Nutella and these waffle cracker thingies. Carole and I promptly went to the store and stocked up on fresh fruit, yogurt, and healthier snacks to help round out their diets!

 Back at the ranch... washing those clothes and having 2x daily devotionals. We had meetings every night to talk about schedules for the next day, give performance notes, enlighten spirits, etc.

Motoclube show! Go Harley! Our smallest but coolest audience.

And they gave us cool shirts!

 Karaoke night back at the school

From Carole Kelly's facebook posts: "Another nonstop day at Folkfaro. "Nonstop" as in the day didn't end until 4:00 am today. Day five of the festival included a trip to Moura where we were treated to an authentic Portuguese dinner in a beautiful outdoor setting. Afterward our dancers opened the evening's entertainment on a stage in Moura's historic city center. India and Puerto Rico followed with impressive performances we were able to stay and watch. Every day here is a treat!"

 Congo line during impromptu dance party after the performances in Moura!

 And you know us crazy Mormon Americans... we always stay to help clean up after! We had the option of leaving after we performed, but India and Puerto Rico danced after us and we didn't want to miss it! So glad we stayed!

The next day. :-)

to be continued...